Sectional flywheel



G. W. BORDEN AND L. W. OWEN.

SETlONA. FLYWHEEL. APPucmon mlm 1M. me.

Patentd Dec. 23, 1.919.

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SECTIONAL lELYWl'IlEElEI.

To all who/lt 'it' may concern:

Be it known that we, Gnonen W'. BonDnN and linwis lV. wicN, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Steubenville, inL the sectional fly wheelttor automobile engines, y

the engines ot -lnotoiboats or the like.

its is well known, automobile engines sell-starter employ gear teethupon the engine ily wheel and power is transmitted from the motor of theseli starter to these gear teeth `to turn the fly wheel and consequentlyturn the engine crank shaft to start theV engine. lrleretotore, it hasbeen common to form the gear teeth of the ily wheel integral therewith.Consequently, when `the teeth become stripped, as very often happens,are broken oit, or their eiliciency otherwise impaired, it becomesnecessary to remove the engine from the vehicle and install a new ilywheel. rlllie present invention has as its primary object, therefore, toprovide a fly Wheel employing a detachable gear ring formed oiu aplurality of sections so that upon the impairment of any of the teeth ofthe ring, the particular section carrying the detective teeth may beremoved and a new section substituted therefor without the necessity ofremoving the vehicle motor or displacing the ily Wheel.

The invention has as a further object to provide a construction whereinthe sections oit the gear ring will be connected with the '.tly Wheeleach by individual fastening devices so that any one ot the sections maybe displaced without loosening the other seetions.

ilind the invention has as a still 'further object to provide a ringwill be 'irmly mounted and rigidly supported upon the wheel body.

@ther and incidental objects will appear during the course ot thedetailed description olf the invention. ln the drawings,` wherein l haveillustrated the preferred embodiment of the invention, and whereinsimilar ref erence characters designate corresponding 4 parts throughoutthe several views:

lili

Figure l is a iront elevation ot our improved fly wheel showing one ofthe sec tions ot the gear ring removed,

Specification of Letters Patent.

wheel wherein the gear.

Patented. nee. es, ieia.

`Application filed January 8, 1919. Serial No. 270,206.

Fig. 2 is avertical sectional view taken on the lineQ-Q of Fig; l andparticularly .illustrating the mounting of the gear ring,

Fig, 3 is a fragmentary sectional view l taken on the line 3-3 `of Fig.l and showing a typical fasteningemployed for. connecting the gear ringwith the wheel body, and

Fig. 4lis a fragmentary perspective view showing a portion of one of thesections ol the gear ring as well as one of the tastening devicesemployed for connecting the ring with the wheel body.

ln carrying the invention into effect we employ a wheel body comprisinga hub, web and peripheral portion. Projecting laterally at one side of'thel wheel body is a peripheral flange 1l beveled out upon its 1innerside to provide a clutch face l2. The

manner lin which a clutch is adapted to coact with this flange will bewell understood. The wheel is designed to be keyed or other wise fixedupon an engine crank shalt in any approved manner.

Upon its forward side the wheel body l0 is cut away adjacent itsperiphery to provide. stepped annular ledges or shoulders 13 and 14respectively, a flat Jr'acc l5 being thus detinedbetween the ledges anda second fiat face 16 between the ledge 14; andthe periphery of thewheel. Formed inthe face medially thereof is an annular groove l?concentric to the axis of the wheel. Removably secured upon the wheelbody to t the stepped ledges thereof as well as the faces l5 and 16, isa gear ring'l which, as particularly shown in Fig. 1.,.is' formed of aplurality of sections or segments. lille have illustrated the use oi'four such sections. However, it will, ot course, be understood that thenumber ot these sections to be em ployed may be readily varied. itt itsperiphery, the gear ring is formed with gear teeth 19 adapted to coactwith a suitable drive gear upon the sha-lt of a starting inotor while,upon its inner side, the ring is cut away for the major portion of itswidth to define an annular shoulder Z0 from which extends a flange 2l.Thus, as will be seen, the ring is substantially lL-shaped in crosssection and formed upon the flange 2l at its inner side and spaced fromthe shoulder E20, is an annular locking rib Q2. 'lhis rib is, asparticularly brought out in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings, adapted toengage snugly within the channel 177 of the wheel body ior till lll)

locking the gear ring against outward radial movement thereon when theouter edge of the flange 2l will abut the ledge 13 of the wheel bodywhile the shoulder Q0 of the gear -the heads of which are countersunk insaid sockets. These cap screws are disposed immediately at the outerside of ythe rib 22 and,

Vas willbe clear, may be adjusted for tightly clamping the inner side ofthe ring adjacent its periphery against the llat :tace 16 of the vwheelbody and also tightly clamping the flange 21v of the ring against thewheel face l5. Disposed within the sockets 23 to surround the cap screwsare spring locking 'washers for holding the screws in adjusted position.Thus, it will be seen that the ring will be securely connected with thewheel body and rigidly supported thereon. Thrust upon the gear ring willbe sustained, in large degree, by the locking rib 22 and groove 17 sothat undue strain upon the fastening devices Q4 will be prevented.Furthermore, the locking rib and groove will `take care of any expansionor contraction of the wheel body and gear ring. At their ends, thesections of the ring, as shown in Fig. l, abut and, as also brought outin this figure, each of the sections is connected with the wheel body byindividual fastening devices. Consequently, when any of the gear teeth19 of the ring become stripped, broken oli", or their elticiencyotherwise impaired, the particular section of the ring carrying thedefective teeth may, Without molesting any of the other sections, bedisplaced and a new section substituted therefor. Further more, thisoperation may be accomplished without the necessity for displacing avehicle motor equipped with the improved wheel orremoving the wheel fromthe motor shaft. le accordingly provide a highly ell'ective constructionfor the purpose set forth and a wheel making it readily possible torepair the gear connection between an engine ily wheel and a startinginotoi.

Having thus described the, invention, what is claimed as new is:

l. In a sectional wheel, the combination ot av wheel body provided withstepped ledges defining relatively offset parallel laces, the inner facebeing wider than the outer tace and being provided with a groove, a gearring cut away at one side to delino stepped inner and outer parallelfares tilting said first mentioned faces and separated by :L shouldercoacting with the outermost ol said ledges, the inner peripheral edge ofthe. ring engaging the other ot' said ledges, a medial rib projectingfrom the inner ot said faces of the ring and engaging in said groove,and means securing the ring in position.

Q. In ay sectional wheel. the combination of a wheel body stepped toprovide rela* tively offset faces. a sectional gear ring eX- teiidingaround the peripheral margin ot the wheel body and stepped to providerela tively offset faces coacting with said liist mentioned faces, thebody of the ring lying within the lines ofthe wheel body, and meanssecuring the sections of the ring upon the wheel body.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures.

GEORGE lV. BORDEN. LEVIS W. OWEN.

